Country Rates, National Rates

A wide range of economic tools are used by governments and other statistical agencies to measure the country rates. These rates help to judge a nation’s economic progress.

Measuring Country Rates

Country rates are measured through the following:

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is:

• the combined value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year.

 

• the aggregate of total consumption, investment, government spending and net exports.

 

A wide range of economic tools are used by governments and other statistical agencies to measure the country rates. These rates help to judge a nation’s economic progress.

Measuring Country Rates

Country rates are measured through the following:

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is:

• the combined value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year.

 

• the aggregate of total consumption, investment, government spending and net exports.

 

• used as an indicator to measure the standard of living in an economy.

GDP rates of major countries (IMF, 2008) are:

Country	GDP Growth Rates for 2008
Azerbaijan	48.23%
Equatorial Guinea	47.30%
Iraq	45.72%
United Arab Emirates	44.38%
Qatar	44.00%
Libya	43.23%
Kuwait	41.46%
Republic of the Congo	40.71%
Angola	40.70%
Venezuela	40.26%
Moldova	39.34%
Myanmar	38.56%
Tajikistan	38.34%
Syria	35.13%
Mongolia	33.79%
Belarus	33.16%
Kyrgyzstan	32.66%
Uruguay	32.05%
Ethiopia	32.05%
Bulgaria	31.26%

 

Gross National Product (GNP):

• is the combined value of all the final goods and services produced in a country during an accounting year (GDP).
• includes the net factor income from foreign countries.
• is complex to calculate, so most countries use real GDP as a primary tool for measuring a country’s economic health.

Human Development Index (HDI):

• combines various measures such as literacy, life expectancy and GDP per capita rates for different countries to measure a nation’s development.
• helps to demonstrate how a nation’s economic position is – developed, developing or under-developed.
• A Human Development Index lower than 0.5 indicates low development and a value above 0.8 represents high development.

Nations with highest HDI value (UNDP Report in 2006) include:

Country	HDI
Iceland	0.968
Australia	0.965
Canada	0.961
Japan	0.953
US	0.951

  

Per-capita income is:

• the average income of individuals in a country, obtained by dividing aggregate yearly income by total population.
• used to measure a country’s wealth with that of other nations.
• used to draw comparisons as it is straightforward and easy to understand.

Some per capita income rates (IMF, 2008) are:

Unemployment Rate:

• is calculated by dividing the total number of unemployed workers with the total workforce.
• reflects a country’s economic health and the role of its government in overcoming unemployment in the country.

Countries with the largest unemployment rate (CIA Factbook, 2008) include:

Country	Unemployment Rate (%)
Afghanistan	40.00
South Africa	21.70
Dominican Republic	15.40
Algeria	12.90
Ecuador	8.70

 

Inflation Rates:

• are a measure of inflation.
• indicate the percentage change in price levels over a period of time.
• have a negative impact on a country’s economy.

The inflation rates of major countries (CIA Factbook, 2008) are:

Country	Inflation Rate (consumer prices) (%)
Russia	13.90
China	6.00
US	4.20
UK	3.80
Japan	1.80

 

Country rates are used by various international agencies such as the UN, to evaluate and compare the social and economic performance of countries. National governments also use it to frame economic policies.